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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

vintage quilt mondays: silk rail fence quilt

I'm so excited to be sharing another one of my vintage quilts with you! It's nice to be back to our Vintage Quilt Mondays (even though it's Tuesday!) series after a couple of busy weeks. This quilt was given to me by my step-mother. When she was cleaning out her mother's house, she came across a box of quilts that were made by her grandmother and great-grandmother. She asked if anyone in their family wanted them, and (unbelievably) nobody did. So, she gave them to me because she knew that I'd appreciate them and give them a good home. I graciously accepted them, but I'm more than willing to give them back to her family if anyone changes their minds.

This gorgeous quilt is a rail fence design made out of bits and pieces of silk and velvet. I believe it was never finished because it looks more like a quilt top to me.

Along all of the edges of the quilt is this black tatted lace fringe.

Some of the fabrics look like they might have come from ties, like this blue and white golf club print.

There are all sorts of gorgeous colors in the quilt, and the luxurious fabrics really make them look like shimmering jewels in the sunlight.

The back of the quilt, on the other hand, looks completely utilitarian. I'm not sure if the quiltmaker finished it this way, or if she intended to put another type of backing on it. It looks to me that she used some base cloths as a type of stabilizer for the more delicate fabrics on the front of the quilt.

It looks like each square of three strips on the front is backed with a square of cotton or muslin.

I really like the random look of the squares on the back. And look how fabulous that green and black print above is.

Here's another view of the fringed edge of the quilt and some of the hand stitching.

I'm not exactly sure when this quilt was made. I need to ask my step-mom if she knows, but I have a feeling that she's not too sure about the dates of any of them. There are six more from her that I'll be sharing over the coming weeks, and unfortunately none of them are labeled. So, this serves as a good reminder to us that it's so important to label our work! I needed that reminder myself because I've got a few quilts that I've made recently that I need to label, too!